S&P affirms Chile at 'A' with a stable outlook but says fiscal consolidation will take longer than expected; 2026 growth forecast at 0.7%

According to the decision announced by the Finance Ministry on 25 September and reported by Cooperativa, S&P attributed the fall in the deficit to 1.4% by 2029 to fiscal consolidation, the higher growth expected in 2027 and favourable copper prices; the agency also stressed the need to speed up permits for major projects. According to La Tercera, the transfer and convertibility assessment is 'AA-'; S&P forecasts growth of 0.7% for 2026 and 2.9% for 2027 and unemployment of 9% for 2026 and 8.7% for 2027, and calculates that interest payments will reach 5.5% of government revenue over 2026–2029. According to the same report, the agency wrote that missed revenue projections have increased the debt burden.

According to BioBioChile, S&P viewed favourably the approval of the National Reconstruction Law, which speeds up environmental permits and cuts corporate tax from 27% to 23%; Fitch also kept Chile at 'A−' with a stable outlook in a separate review, though the date of the Fitch decision could not be verified. According to The Rio Times, the IPSA in Santiago fell 0.38% to 11,256.80 on 25 September and the dollar stood at 913.98 pesos; the decision drew no marked market reaction.

The decision came in a week when Brazil's IPCA-15, at 0.70%, approached the upper end of the target range and financing costs across the region rose as the US 10-year yield climbed above 5%. The fact that S&P foresees an improvement of only 1.2 points in the deficit path by 2029 shows the agency reading the Kast government's fiscal consolidation timetable as slower.